Small cranes are commonly found on service trucks used by utility companies, construction companies, and tradesmen. These cranes can be used to lift any number of heavy objects in the field. When a lift is carried out, the operator does not know the weight of the object being lifted. Many times the operator's estimate of the objects weight can be off significantly. This can lead to the operator causing the crane to become unstable and possibly rolling the crane and truck. These cranes typically have a boom mounted to a rotatable base.
One of the most common hazards of operating a crane is lifting too large of a load. Often times it is not the actual weight of the load being lifted that causes accidents, it is that the load being lifted along the side of the truck. When this occurs, the truck becomes unstable. In extreme cases the truck can overturn.
While accidents like this occur regularly, prior attempts to implement safeguards have been limited to crane operating systems which monitor the weight of the load or hydraulic system pressure created by the load. This is a key variable in the problem. However, what begins as a lift, which is well within the capacity of the crane, can have devastating results when the load is moved alongside the truck. The same sized load may be safely lifted if it is towards the rear of the truck.
Therefore, what is needed is a crane operating system which prevents lifting dangerous loads alongside the truck.
Further, what is needed is a crane operating system which automatically prevents such dangerous lifts without additional input from the operator in normal operating mode.